With the best of music, distinctive content, locally relevant programming and the best of RJs to its credit, 92.7 BIG FM from Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) cements its position as the No.1 Radio Network in India. The seven year old radio brand today boasts of a massive reach of 4.3 crore Indians across the country through its 45 radio station spread. Tarun Katial, Chief Executive Officer, RBNL talks about the largest FM network in the country, the switch to retro, localization being the DNA of BIG FM, plans for the impending Phase III and more…
On Going Retro
What has changed the game for Big FM and led to the success with audiences?
I believe it was the decision of going Retro with talent that changed the game for BIG FM. We have Neelesh Misra doing ‘Yaadon ka Idiot box’, veteran actor Annu Kapoor doing ‘Suhana Safar ’, singer Talat Aziz with ‘Caravan-e- Ghazal’. We have invested in the right talent to promote our shows, such amazing authority on music that can’t be replicated. In fact, as we speak we are in talks with another very big artist.
What led to the decision of switching to retro?
A lot of duplication was prevalent in the market with the same kind of talk and same kind of music. While we had good listenership, were still oscillating between positions three and four. There was a need to break through the clutter. We did extensive research and we found that while there are stations offering new age music, there was a need for music shows which play timeless tunes, a playlist that offers the best in Retro music and has an everlasting effect on the listeners. Today’s music doesn’t have a strong hold in the listener’s mind so it was wise decision on our part to offer our listeners something different. It was of course a risky proposition but we realized this is what our listeners want. Our decision to change to Retro and the amalgamation of the best talent in the music industry for our shows worked like magic.
While we decided on going Retro, we had to conduct extensive research in terms of the kind of music we should play. We also worked on our presentation style had to also change a lot of our talk because radio talk was seen to be immature and frivolous cacophony, so we had to find a lot of new talent that would go with older music.
It took some time for everything to fall in place but eventually the risk paid off. We launched a new breakfast show host with Siddharth and a new evening host with Dilip in Mumbai. Two new hosts at one time is a big risk but we did that in Delhi also. Time spent on our stations is close to five hours a week, which is possibly higher than any medium in Mumbai, with our average reach 40-45 lakhs over five hours every week.
Did you think that the decision to go retro would push away youth listeners?
The extensive research we conducted was across target audience groups and we were very surprised to with the results that emerged. Even among the youth, today’s music has so little shelf value. The maximum a song stays on charts today is about eight to ten weeks, beyond that it fades away and never comes back.
How has it impacted your revenues?
The money today is in categories like auto, insurance and FMCG. And these all talk largely to 25+ male or female consumers. Even considering our youth ratings which are very, very big and competitive when compared to others, it is primarily in the 25+ audience largely where all the advertising money gets spent. Being the clear No 1 here, it has impacted our revenues positively.
In terms of overall revenues, if you look at our last six months which is where we’ve really gone retro, we’ve seen a near-15-20 percent rise.
Has it shown a sharp spike in rates?
We have moved from a 9 per cent share and No. 5 position to No. 1 position in Mumbai over the last six months, and that has been the big story for us as a company. We embraced local insights, local format and launched retro in Mumbai. We took a huge risk but it paid off hugely.
Annu Kapoor’s show Suhana Safar, added reach not only for our channel but also the reach to the category of radio listening. We are the No. 1 breakfast show and almost during any part of the day, we are the No. 1 brand. Across the four metros, we are either No. 1 or No. 2. In Bangalore, we are at No. 2, in Kolkata, at No. 1 or No. 2 and in Mumbai, at No. 1. We do very well in Delhi, where we are mostly No. 1 or No. 2.
Our rates have increased by almost 100 percent over the last three months, and our advertisers have come back to us with better ideas and volumes. We are looking to do a lot more local insight mining, extensive research for our stations and sign up local talent. We are working with unique talent in every market which is helping us strengthen our growth.
On the largest FM network in the country – 92.7 BIG FM
The retro positioning has been adopted in seven stations. What about your strategy for the rest of BIG FM stations?
We researched that all radio consumers are not the same, all tastes are not the same and we will go region by region, city by city to decide the format and we put our radio station in buckets. So there is the retro bucket where all stations that we saw where the liking for retro music was high, we’ve taken the ‘hit thhe, hit rahenge’ positioning in all those stations. There are some stations where we continued to run as contemporary hit radio but they are in a bucket of regional plus contemporary. These include cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, the whole Punjab belt and some of the others.
Given the retro positioning, how does the channel stay contemporary?
Every single artist today is inspired by a legend that they are extremely happy to talk about. We also have a Bollywood editor in Bhavana Somaiya who does movie reviews every week. We are not disconnected at all. Bhavanaji is somebody who is not frivolous and is taken seriously.
With a 45-station network and leadership status in the several markets, have you seen a change in the outlook of advertisers towards BIG FM?
I think most large advertisers realise that we deliver very good value and they’ve started to work with us far more extensively than they ever did in the last one year. Some of the larger ones have actually done some really innovative work with us. So we’re seeing larger market share shifts towards us.
We’re also seeing advertisers finally getting conscious about where they spend their money because spends on radio are going up after the cap of ad time on TV and so we’re seeing people holding themselves and their agencies far more accountable in terms of RoIs. Advertisers are increasing looking at RAM data. Around 70-80 percent of adspend is in the four metros which are measured by RAM weekly.
Any shift in consumption patterns emerging?
A lot of consumption is happening over the mobile and on the go. Even at home it is on the mobile. What iPod and MP3 players did in the west the FM over the mobile is doing for Indians. Over 50 per cent of consumption is happening over the mobile.
On Phase 3
Given the success that you’ve had with retro, what are you plans for Phase 3?
I think Phase 3 will be a great opportunity for us to refine our formats even better so in places where we get multiple frequencies. Having succeeded with different shades of work with retro, we’ve got some two-three formats up our sleeves that we want to test in Mumbai and Delhi and some of the other markets.
How many licenses are you looking at once finalised?
We will definitely aim for maximum – in terms of whatever is possible. So there is a good chance that from a 45-station network, 92.7 BIG FM can expect to grow to a 100-plus network.
Do you also have plans of getting into News?
Well I definitely look forward to it. I think it’s almost archaic to not have news on free radio and not allow the consumer to be able to make himself aware on what his happening in the world around him on free radio. I think this government has finally woken up to that reality. The statements from the I&B minister seem very positive. We are still hopeful that the minister will stay true to his earlier announcements of allowing at least Press Trust of India (PTI) news on air. With all sorts of news available even on local cable television, radio should be treated fairly and equitably. It is a responsible medium, can be consumed on the go, while also being very effective.
On future plans
What are your immediate plans?
I would say adding more talent to our radio channel is the prime focus for us today.
What does the way forward look like for BIG FM?
The way forward is going to be defined by Phase III. If we do multiple frequencies in a city, we are definitely not going to do a second retro channel. What Phase III and multiple frequencies will allow are more people to innovate like we have. We need to be allowed us to innovate more – looking at age, demographics and language as a cutting point. It stops no one from doing a Marathi station or youth station in Mumbai.
As we keep growing, underlining our leadership position, we do aim to set new benchmarks in the radio space through innovative insight-led programming and by delivering differentiated content that will best cater to our listeners and clients in each market.